Tag: DEFAMATION

Courtney Love has agreed to pay about $430,000 to settle a defamation lawsuit filed against her by fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir. The dispute began in 2009, after the designer claimed that Love owed her $4,000 for services specified in a contract. Love disagreed, and posted a series of profanity-laced comments to her Twitter account, calling Simorangkir a "nasty lying hosebag thief," among ...

A few months ago, former actress, model and Columbia graduate Carla Franklin took legal action against a mysterious cyberbully who posted defamatory comments about her on YouTube. At the time, Franklin said she had a pretty good idea of who the crude commenter might be, but her lawyers decided to file a court petition for Google to formally reveal his identity. The petition, which was initially ...

In April, we told you about the unfortunate plight of Justin Kurtz, a 21-year-old college student who found himself battling defamation charges after creating a group on Facebook to publicize his dissatisfaction with a local towing company. Not long after its birth, the group began growing, with many Kalamazoo, Michigan locals flocking to the forum in order to air their own grievances with the ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/04/14/angry-towing-company-sues-student-for-750k-over-facebook-page/'; Share Social networking sites are, in most parts of the world, the modern day equivalent of town halls, where people can gather round and share opinions -- as long as those opinions don't attack T&J Towing Company. The company, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. filed a defamation ...

When you take to eBay for your shopping needs, you know you're taking a certain amount of risk. You have faith in the description of the goods for sale, digital photos, and, more importantly, the seller's morals. Apparently, another risk you might be taking, if you react negatively to being burned by a seller, is that of being sued. Michael Steadman, a business owner in Florida, discovered this ...

Share Online threats of violence and acts of cyber-bullying are not protected free speech. That's according to a California appeals court that upheld a decision from a lower court, allowing a hate crimes and defamation suit (PDF) to continue. The case dates back to 2005, when a then 15-year-old student at a private high school in Los Angeles launched a personal Web page to promote his pursuit ...

Two law firms have filed a class-action lawsuit against Yelp, charging the business review site with conducting unfair business practices, and running an "extortion scheme." According to the suit filed in Los Angeles federal court , Yelp's employees regularly "call businesses demanding monthly payments, in the guise of 'advertising contracts,' in exchange for removing or modifying negative reviews ...

In most democratic countries, teenage gossip and name-calling rarely leave the realm of a high school cafeteria. In the hyper transparent age of Facebook, though, and especially in the authoritarian Republic of Indonesia, adolescent catfights are settled by civil courts -- and can often lead to jail time. A judge in Jakarta recently sentenced a teenage girl to 75 days in prison after she was ...

Stick and stones may indeed break bones. But causing someone to lose Facebook friends? Well, that'll land you a lawsuit. A Chicago-based woman is suing her former lover and employer for defamation, after rumors he spread about her being delusional and "post-partum" resulted in a loss of friends on Facebook. WBBM 780 reports that the plaintiff, Annmarie Swatos, asserts that she and Richard ...

Cyber-bullying has become a major issue around the world. Teens across the U.S. and across the pond in Europe find themselves constantly faced with this new form of harassment. But if we had to pick one place as the epicenter of this disturbing new trend it would be Missouri. The home state of Megan Meier, a girl who committed suicide just before her 14th birthday as a result of being bullied ...

What separates Twitter from other social networking sites has always been its trademark brevity. Restricted to 140 characters, users are forced to be concise and truncate their thoughts, opinions, or news. As is often the case, though, pithiness comes at the expense of nuance, subtlety or sarcastic intonation, leaving tweets open to wide and varied interpretation. When the tweeter has some ...

Part of the deal when you enter the limelight is that you have to accept that some people are going to hate you. Not only that, but they might say some pretty mean and horrible things, especially on the Net. In fact, somethings might be down right indefensible. It seems that British boxer and current WBA World Light-Welterweight champion, Amir Khan, may not have the thick skin necessary for life ...

Last week, the notoriously anonymous 'Skanks in NYC' blogger was facing a potential defamation lawsuit by model Liksula Gentile Cohen, who had been negatively characterized in the blog. This week, that same blogger, who has since been identified as 27-year-old fashion student Rosemary Port, is filing a lawsuit of her own. According to ZDNet, she has decided to sue Google for revealing her ...

Remember back in January when model Liskula Cohen was the target of a blog called 'Skanks in NYC?' The Google Blogger-hosted site featured embarrassing, personal photos of Cohen, and the anonymous author said of her: "I would have to say that first place award for 'Skankiest in NYC' would have to go to Liskula Gentile Cohen." The site was quickly taken down when Cohen decided to try and take ...